If anyone was paying attention at WWDC07 this year, they would have noticed Apples efforts in bringing Mac OS X Developers tools (Xcode) up to par with the rest of the apps in the Mac. Due to the Intel transition, mayor updates languished and were they put on hold to keep up with the architectural changes(there is so much they can do). But now that it is over and it’s time to move forward they are going full steam ahead with these. The developer tools are improving substantially for the Leopard release and what better time to do it than now, when Apple has four mayor platforms in place: the Mac, iPhone, iPod and their hobby Apple TV. All of these are built with Apple’s Cocoa framework and Objective-C on a OS X. So waiting to solidify the Leopard code-base before releasing SDKs for these platforms would be wise(as I mentioned before). So far, all evidence points to this. I want to believe that Apple is not as stupid as disgruntled developers and fans(me) are claiming in leaving the iPod, iPhone and TV closed platforms. I believe Apple is smart and they treasure third party developers(which can break or fortify any platform). If they didn’t, why would they have made a deal in 1997 with Microsoft to continue support for Office?
Third party developers will make OS X the entertainment platform for years to come. I once heard Brent Simons say: “Many people claim that Windows has a larger installed base than the Mac, but most Windows machines are cash registers, and those users don’t buy what Mac developers market for anyway” (Not exact words, since my memory is kind of bad). The point is completely right, Mac developers are mostly targeting a segment of the market that spends in consumer goods and creative professionals. Just take a look of widely successful Mac software…it’s mostly for consumers(Delicious-Library, NetNewsWire, RapidWeaver, appzapper, Adium). I can’t wait for a day when I can read my RSS in NetNewsWire on my Mac, on the road on my iPhone, and at home in bed in my next toy (Apple TV). OS X is going from an operating system, to a true everywhere entertainment platform.
This was supposed to be a short comment pointing to Glenn Fleishman article that says than an SDK is coming soon(he has reliable sources, and he has a good reputation).
Once again, I read it through John Grubber’s Daringfireball (if you don’t subscribe to it, DO IT, you won’t regret it).
(Via DaringFireball.)